No.
My dad’s records… They’re in pieces around the room.
This cannot be happening.
I fall to the ground, my knees crashing against the wood flooring with a bang. I can’t breathe.
This is like losing him all over again.
This is all I had left of him. All that really mattered anyway.
All I can see is the destruction around the room. Of my memories.
Of my dad.
I think I might officially be losing the tenuous grip I’ve been holding over everything since Dad died.
This? This might be the thing that actually breaks me.
I didn’t have much that mattered left in this life, just the contents of these boxes. And now everything’s gone. Destroyed. In a matter of hours.
I don’t even have to think twice about who did this. I knew there was a reason the bitch squad disappeared from the party. I just hadn’t considered that even Blair would be this hateful. What did I ever do to her?
“Lookie what we found here, boys… You know, you really shouldn’t spend so much time alone, whore.” I spin around at the voice and see four guys I don’t know. I recognize their faces from school, but I couldn’t name them even with a gun to my head.
“What do you want?” My voice sounds as broken as I feel. I climb to my feet, tired of all of this already. All I want to do is tidy up and then drown myself into oblivion, preferably with tequila. Because this week has been fucking awful.
They press closer into my space, and the hair on the back of my neck goes up. It didn’t occur to me to be afraid of anyone that wasn’t Lincoln, Maverick, and Finley, but the smiles these four give me tells me that was stupid. “We just want to have some fun. You’re already putting out for Coach. Why not us too?”
“I didn’t put out for anyone,” I argue, folding my arms over my chest to hide the shake of my hands. I don’t even have my phone to signal for help, it’s locked in my goddamn safe.
The leader of the pack steps even closer to me, so close I can feel his breath on my skin. “That’s not what we heard. What’s wrong? Are we too good for you?”
“I said scare, not play.” I look up over the guy’s shoulder and see Lincoln, Maverick, and Finley, all leaning against the glass wall that makes up the front of my pool house.
Of course this was them.
“You heard him,” one of the other four guys says, and they rush me. I kick and shout, trying to get them off of me, but they hold me while tearing at my clothes. Pawing at me in the process. I call out until my throat is raw, but it’s no use. No one is going to help me but me.
They have me down to my underwear, and I thrash harder. They are not getting me naked. Not a fucking chance. I throw out a fist, catching one of the guys in the face, but I don’t have time to take any happiness from my victory when he clasps me around the throat. “Stupid bitch.”
“That’s enough!” Lincoln's voice booms around the room. “Leave.”
At his decree, the four of them pull away from me, grumbling under their breath as they leave the pool house. They each look like they’d like to complain, but they don’t actually speak up. Who would dare complain to the King?
I clutch my arms around my body, trying to cover myself up as humiliation burns through me. “What the fuck do you want?”
My voice is harsh, but it doesn’t affect them. Not at all. They close in on me, and I stumble backward until my back is pressed against the wall. I might not have had the sense to be afraid before, but I know for sure that these three have zero hesitation in regards to hurting me. Maverick already proved that. And money talks in this town, so even if I went to the police, nothing would be done. Nothing is ever done with people like this.
“You came back.” Lincoln shrugs, like that should explain everything. Tears well in my eyes, but I blink them back. I refuse to let them see me cry.
With a slight nod from Lincoln, the other two step forward. Finley grasps my wrists, and despite my attempts to break his grip, he lifts them and pins them above my head on the wall. I’m usually all for consensual restraint, but this is different, despite the shudder of excitement that runs through me. I struggle against him, but Maverick pulls that knife of his again. “Please, don’t.”
“You don't make the rules here, Octavia. We do. The moment you set foot back in our town, we owned you. You want control? Leave,” Lincoln says as he smirks at me. “But don’t worry. You’ll enjoy this.”
He drops to his knees at my feet, and I lock my ankles together. “What the hell are you doing?”
He glances up at me before his gaze moves to Maverick. The sinister grin on his face as he steps toward me makes me fight Finley's hold even harder. He is not putting that knife near me again.